Chuck's Guides - DCS Tutorial Library

Thanks a lot Chuck for your guides!

 

May I have a small suggestion? Could you add some kind of indication when was the guide last updated? Like a timestamp on the first page of the guide so as to know whether we should redownload the guide and search for differences?

That's a good suggestion, gerd! +1 please. :)

Okay, here's a little update for you folks.

***

My inbox is exploding with questions, comments and requests, so I'll try to do a short Q&A to explain the current match plan.

Q: Will there be a guide on the F-5?

A: Yes, I have acquired a great pilot manual on the F-5 and I am studying it little by little.

Q: Will the Mirage Guide be updated to reflect the new features implemented by Razbam? If yes, when?

A: Yes, I will do a complete rewrite of many sections, adding a couple more as well in the process. This means that I need to go through everything that I wrote already, make sure it's still of actuality (or fix it if it's not) and this takes a good amount of time. I rewrote a couple of sections already but I am not quite satisfied with the result. So, I intend to wait for Larry, Ron and CptSmiley to finish the UNI (INS) before I submit a final version. It's much more difficult than I thought to write on features that are basically WIP and can or could change with every patch... it requires a lot of backtracking and crosschecking. About the when: probably at the mid-summer once things cool off with university projects and I can start sleeping regular nights.

Q: Will there be a guide on the Gazelle?

A: Definitely yes. I have started to read a lot on it, but haven't started to write anything down yet since the reference material I found was for other variants of the SA342 and Polychop has not released its beautiful helicopter yet.

Q: Will there be a timestamp to help know if we have the latest version?

A: Yes, I will add it for every guide in the near future (End of April or Early May). Some guides are in the process of being completely overhauled/rewritten so I don't want to put timestamps on guides that are still WIP and not complete enough to be submitted to the community.

Q: Will there be a guide on the L-39C/ZA?

A: Yes, it's already in an advanced state.

Q: What's taking so long with the new stuff? You were pumping out these guides much faster

before!

A: In the days where the MiG-21, A-10C and Ka-50 guides were written, I had much more free time and a more flexible schedule. However, working full time with school thrown in the mix (and some other flight sim-related side-projects) has made it increasingly difficult to keep a healthy balance between everything. With summer coming up, things should speed back up.

Q: Will there be a guide on the Hawk?

A: Yes, it's in an advanced state and is very likely to be the next one I release after the EFM is fully implemented, tested and released in DCS.

Q: Why do guides for trainers? Barely anybody flies any of them!

A: The Hawk and L-39 both have air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities and, if flown properly, can very effectively tackle on suitable challenges thrown at them. I believe that every aircraft in DCS is a beast of its own that deserves to be tamed and learned. I distinctly remember the days when I said that helicopters were boring to fly because they were slow and vulnerable. Now I couldn't live without them. I think that the Hawk and L-39 deserve to be given a chance since as I learned to fly them they have slowly grown on me for some inexplicable reason. The goal of these guides is not only to teach people how to fly, but also to give them a glimpse of the capabilities of each aircraft and make them WANT to fly it.

Q: Why are you leaving the FC3 modules behind? Do you hate the F-15, MiG-29 and Su-27?

A: I don't think any less of FC3 pilots than of other kinds of pilots. While I can fly these planes and know them to a certain degree, I don't think I enjoy remembering keystroke combos to do certain tasks. I just feel like I'm "gaming the game", if that makes any sense. I like to remember the physical position of switches in the pit and have some sort of impression that I know about a plane instead of a game interface... which is simply irrelevant in a non-clickable cockpit. In other words, FC3 is cool, but I don't think I'd enjoy writing about it very much since I prefer to teach about the plane itself instead of the game.

Q: The WWII, F-86 and MiG-15 guides have a worse presentation format than the others... will you update them to present a uniform template for all guides?

A: I intend to give them all a good facelift eventually, but it'll have to wait for some time during this summer. There are other things of higher priority on my to-do list.

So... that's it for now! I hope that clears things up.

Thanks for the update!

THX for the update:thumbup: and all the time you put it to them.

Timestamps added as requested.

Thank you again for all of your work. I firmly believe that your guides are what me starting back with DCS possible. Once we learn a module, it's very easy to forget how intimidating DCS can be. I figure if I, with 22 years in aviation, can quickly become overwhelmed by a single module. These guides are exactly,What I needed.well done

Hi Chuck,

I just wanted to say thank you for the tutorials! Great work!

Okay, here's a little update for you folks...

Crap, just noticed this and am a bit late to the saying thanks party. Thanks!

Having that date there really helps me figure out whether I need to download the latest version of one of your great guides. S!

DCS Hawk T.1A Guide now available in first post

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-uSpZROuEd3WWpzTGJ2VHRSeFE/view?usp=sharing

Next guide will be on... the L-39! Gazelle/F-5 (and Mirage 2000 update) will come after depending on what is released or completed first.

Thanks Charly!,

Thanks Charly !

Could I ask if you are going to update the Mirage 2000C with the ILS navigation part?

your tutorials are so amazing and help me to fly everything! I couldn't have done it without you.

Could I ask if you are going to update the Mirage 2000C with the ILS navigation part?

I decided to stop updating the guide until all Mirage features are properly implemented by RAZBAM. At the moment, features are still changing with almost every new patch so writing about those is kind of a useless exercice.

Plus: A couple of NAV systems are not implemented yet, including the UNI (INS).

Two things:

*************

First: This thread has now 40,000 views... wow!

*************

Second: here is the latest addition to the library (available in first post as well).

Chuck's guide to the DCS L-39ZA Albatros

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-uSpZROuEd3aHZwV0VtalFCR1E

Enjoy!

No wonder this thread has now 40,000 views....

You are a hero!

Thanks again for your nice work, Charly.

:D

Chuck, I just want to say it again. Thank you! You've clearly spent a lot of time on these tutorials and they are very high quality. People would pay a good amount of money for these and you're generous enough to have them available without charge. You are truly a valuable member of our niche society and thousands have benefited from your efforts. Cheers!

:beer:

Just downloaded these and will study them. Hopefully the other modules will be done as well. Any chance for the fc3?

Added guide for the SA-342M Gazelle in the first post. Hope that helps!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-uSpZROuEd3Qk53ZlNKVVNnSFU/view?usp=sharing

Thank you man, Amazing work :thumbup:

Beautiful! Thank you.

LOVE your guides. always the first thing to read, when i get a new module, or re-learn an long unused module again before starting to fly.

all the necessary info clean and easy to look up and straight to the point, brilliant work!

the only thing i don't like about them is the widescreen format, because that way they don't just fit into my kneeboard and i always have to cut them up to make startup reference kneeboard pics, that are readable inside the DCS kneeboard display :)

sorted in folders so that i only see the specific kneeboard images for the aircraft i am flying - always great to have for startup etc.

Love it. Thank you Sir :thumbup: